Ghayrah

Ghayrah (Arabic: غَيْرَة‎) (sometimes transliterated as ghayra, ghira, gheerah or gheera) is an Arabic word which means a person's dislike of another's sharing in a right (which belongs to the former). It has a sense of earnest concern or zeal over something and can be considered a kind of protective jealousy. In Islam, there are different kinds of ghayrah: that which relates to Allah and which relates to a Muslim. Allah's discontent is with sharing the obedience of his servant which rightfully belongs to him. For a Muslim it is the uneasiness in his heart which moves him to guard his family from indecency.

Quotes about Ghayrah in the Hadith

• Narrated By Abu Huraira: The Prophet; said, “Indeed, Allah has ghayrah, and the faithful believer has ghayrah, and the ghayrah which Allah has is provoked when a believer commits that which Allah has forbidden.” [al-Bukhari (4925) and Muslim (2761)]
• Asma' relates, "When az-Zubayr married me, he had neither land nor wealth nor slave", so Asma' had to work very hard kneading dough, going far off to get water. "And I used to carry on my head," she continues, "the date stones from the land of az-Zubair which Allah's Messenger had endowed him and it was a distance of two miles from Madinah. One day, as I was carrying the date-stones upon my head, I happened to meet Allah's Messenger, along with a group of his Companions. He called me and told the camel to sit down so that he could make me ride behind him. I felt shy to go with men and I remembered az-Zubair and his ghayrah and he was a man having the most ghayrah. The Messenger of Allah understood my shyness and left. I came to az-Zubair and said, "The Messenger of Allah met me as I was carrying date-stones upon my head and there was with him a group of his Companions. He told the camel to kneel so that I could mount it, but I felt shy and I remembered your ghayrah." So Asma' declined the offer made by the Prophet. Upon this az-Zubair said, "By Allah, the thought of you carrying date-stones upon your head is more severe a burden on me than you riding with him." (related in Sahih Bukhari)
• Narrated ‘Abdullah bin Masud: RasulAllah said: “There is none having a greater sense of ghayrah than Allah. And for that He has forbidden the doing of evil actions (illegal sexual intercourse etc.).” (related in Sahih Bukhari)[1]
• "The foundation of the Religion is ghayrah, and the one without ghayrah is one without Religion, for ghayrah protects the heart and enlivens the limbs, and shields one from evil and lewdness, and lack of ghayrah kills the heart so that the limbs die, so that there remains not even shielding from [the minor things]. And the example of ghayrah in the heart is the example of the strength that shields one from sickness and fights it off, so if the strength leaves, he will be faced with the sickness, and will not find anything to protect himself from it, so it will establish itself [within him] and destroy him.” (Ibn Qayyim, Ad-Daa’ Wad-Dawaa’)[2]
• Al-Mugheerah mentions that Saʿd ibn ʿUbaadah said: "If I find a man with my wife I will take this sword and smite his neck". And the Prophet said, "Are you amazed about Saʿd’s ghayrah?" He said: "By Allaah, I have more of this than Saʿd, and Allaah has more of it than me". (related in Sahih Bukhari)
• the Messenger of Allah said: "There is a kind of protective jealousy that Allah loves and a kind that Allah hates. As for that which Allah loves, it is protective jealousy when there are grounds for suspicion. And as for that which He hates, it is protective jealousy when there are no grounds for suspicion." (Sunan ibn Majah Book 9, Hadith 2074)